Watch this amazing surgical robot stitch a grape back together

May 11, 2015

In the near future, the cold, steel hands of a robot could be ripping into our flesh… to save us? Yes, the da Vinci single-site system uses robotic arms that are controlled by a skilled surgeon to complete detailed, minimally invasive surgical procedures.

According to a May 11 article from the Daily Dot, the da Vinci machine allows surgeons to do the kind of tasks that are too difficult (or dangerous) to complete by hand. At the same time, the da Vinci works using smaller incisions, so its patients will have less scarring.

Essentially, surgeons use a high-definition 3D camera to see what they’re doing while working the da Vinci’s special “wrists,” which can hold three fully articulating instruments, writes MedGadget. The newest da Vinci Xi system was approved by the FDA in 2014.

And really, when it comes to surgery, who has steadier hands than a robot? That’s probably what Intuitive Surgical was thinking when they started creating this complex surgery bot back in the early 2000s. The da Vinci is now so skilled, surgeons can use it to sew the skin back onto a busted grape, as demonstrated in the video above.

Seeing the da Vinci needs to be controlled by a medical professional to operate, robots will not be replacing surgeons anytime soon. This means that the da Vinci can’t kill off humans one failed surgery at a time in a slow-moving plot to take over the world.

Speaking to Bloomberg Business, the renown robot-implementing surgeon, Dr. Michael Stifelman, said that, “I think it comes down to the surgeon at the end of the day. The surgeon is the one that needs to decide which tool, which approach and which technology is best for he or she … It’s more about the ability of the surgeon.” It’s a master-slave relationship, Stifelman further explained. And, no, these robot slaves won’t actually revolt.